Sanding device for street-cars



(No Model.) Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. Pi DE WITT SANDING DEVICE FOR STREET GA'RS.

No. 498,632. Patented May 30, 1893.

jfzzrenor: cwz 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.`

EMILF. DE WITT, OF LANSINGBURG, NEW YORK. v

SANDING DEVICE FOR STREET-CARS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 498532, dated May 30, 1893.

Application filed February 27, 1893. Serial No. &63,856. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL F. DE WITT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lansingburg, county of Rensselaer, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sanding Apparatus for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to such improvements and consists of the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specificaticn.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures therein.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of a car showing my improved sanding apparatus in side elevation attached to the car. Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively side and rear views in plan of the tube-supporting segment made in one piece with the tube-cap and valve-actuating lever, detached. Figs. 4 and 5 are respecttively side-edge, and end-edge views of the tube-supporting spring, detached. Fig. 6 represents a horizontal section of the spring taken on the broken line 6-6, in Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a view in side elevation of the flexible tube, detached. Fig. 8 is a View in side elevation of the sand-hopper with a portion of the carbottom in section, and showing in longitudinal section a supply-tube having a lateral offset and rotatively secured to the hopper. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the upper end of the supply-tube having a lateral offset.

The subject-matter of this application is an improvement upon the sand-boX shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 491,16l, issued to me February ,7, 1893, to which Letters Patent reference may be had inconnection with the following description.

Referring to the drawings, A- is an end platform of the car, and A'- the dashboard. The sand-hopper A is Secured in an aperture in the car floor by bolts A passing through the floor and a fiange A on the hopper. The outlet at the lower end of the hopper is provided with a flexible supplytube B- of rubber or other suitable material,

like those in common use, leading to the trackrail A to Convey sand from the hopper to the rail.

It is well known that at certain seasons of the year in freezing climates, mud and partly melted snow or ice will adhere to and freeze upon such supply-tubes until, as frequently jhappens, the mouth of the tube becomes closed, which renders the sanding-apparatus useless. One of the objects of .my invention is to provide means for swinging the tube upward and securing it in a position of safety. Such means comprise alink or links B'- connected at one end with the lower end of the tube, and at the opposite end by the chain B with a hook B adapted to engage with a catch or stop B on the dashboard. The chain preferably passes up through an aperture B in the platform, and the hook through an aperture in the dash, as shown. Any known equivalent means may be em- 'ployed to Swing upward and support the lower end of the flexible supply-tuber To prevent the tube from making a short bend which would tend to break it, I provide a curved support or segment C-against which the tube is drawn, and supported in the curved position shown in Fig. l. The segment is preferably made integral with the rock-lever C'- which is linked to and actuates the hopper-Valve indicated by dotted lines and marked 0 This rock-lover is fixed upon the rock-shaft 0 which has its bearings in hangers 0 bolted to the platform timbers 0 This rock-shaft is provided with a I'OCk-lGVGl' 0 which is connected by link 0 to the hand-lever 0 fulcrumed upon the car-platform, which handlever serves to operate the hopper-valve. The

.segment piece is also provided with a disk 0 which serves as a cap to wholly close the mouth of the flexible tube when the latter is drawn against the cap, as shown in Fig. 1. The disk being integral with the segment and rock-lever C'- also serves as a stop to prevent the operation of the hopper-valve by the hand-lever, when the flexible tube is swung up against such stop or cap. Should a careless operator forget to drop the swinging end of the tube when he desires to sand the trackrail, his inability to work the hand-lever and hopper-valve will call his attention to the fact thatthe tube is not in position for use, and he will at once release the tube. By having the supporting segment connected with the valve controlling mechanism, substantially as shown and above described, move- Inents of such Valve-controlling ne'chanism will e-tectually separate the tube from itssupporting segment, should it freeze thereon or for other reasons adhere thereto after the hook 13 is released, thereby allowing a sufficient drop of the discharging end of the tube to effectually deliver sand to the rail.

As an auxiliary device for forcing and maintaining the flexible tube in the most favorable position for delivering sand upon the rail, I provide a spring S- preferably provided at its upper end with a clip S'- which passes around the upper end of the tube and clamps it upon the inserted lower end of the hopper, being Secured by a bolt 8 passing through the bolt-apertures 8 in the clip. The lower end of the spring is also provided with a similar clip 8 which incloses the lower end of the tube and atfords a convenient means for attaching the links B'- by pivots S passing through the links and clip. The spring being comparatively wide measured transversely of the rail, and narrow or thin measured longitudinally of the rail, effectually prevents any lateral displacencnt of the month of the tube, laterally of the rail, and assists in straightening the tube after it has been bent into the position shown in Fig. l. The Spring would also serve to prevent the tube from assuming an angular position when swung up from the rail even if the segment was broken off.

It sometimes happens that electric motor cars are so organized and arranged that the mechanism comprising truck-frame and connections, brakes, motors and connections,occupy all available space beneath the floor of the car which is in vertical plane with either of the track-rails. To meet such emergencies, I provide a section of a supply-tube having a later-al offset and means for securing and rotat-ively adjusting the section upon the hopper, so that the lower end of the tube-section will be in Vertical plane with the rail whether the hopper is in such plane or a eonsiderable distance from it on either side.

The tube-section is marked 0-, and its oftset C'-. The upper end of the section is provided with two oppositely located inwardlyprojecting lugs, 0 adapted to engage with a peripheral annular fiange 0 on the lower end of the hopper surrounding the hopperoutlet. The fiange is cut away on opposite sides, as shown at 0 in Fig. 8, to form openings that will just allow the lugs C on the tube-section to pass up through them when the section is slipped onto the lower end of the hopper. After the lugs have passed through the openings, the section can be rotated until the lower oftsetting end of the section is in Vertical plane with the rail. When the section has been rotatively adjusted as desired, it can be fixed in such position by the set-screw 0 When the offsetting tubesection is employed, the fiexible supply-tube is Secured to the lower end ot' the section.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a sanding apparatus for railway-cars, the combination with a sand-hopper, of a flexible supply-tube leading downwardly from'the hopper, a tube-supporting spring for maintaining the tube in vertical plane with the rail, and means for swinging the lower ends ot' the tube and spring upwardly, substantially as described.

2. In a sanding apparatus, the combination With a sand-hopper and flexible supply-tube leading downwardly from the hopper, of a tube supporting segment, and means for 'swinging the tube upwardly against the segment, substantially as described.

73. In a sanding apparatus, the combination With a sand-hopper and flexible supply-tube leading downwardly from the hopper, of a cap supported independently and on one side of the tube, and means for swinging the mouth of the tube up against the cap, substantially as described.

4. In a sandng apparatus, the combination with a sand-hopper, hopper-controlling valve, mechanism for actuating the valve, and a fleXible supply-tube leading downwardl y from the hopper, of an oscillatory tube-supporting segment, connections between the segment and valve-controlling mechanism, and means for swinging the tube upwardly against the segment, substantially as described.

5. In a sanding apparatus, the combination with a sand-hopper, of adownwardly leading supply-tube rotatively Secured to the hopper and provided with a lateral offset, and means for adjustably securing the tube in a fixed position relatively to the hopper, substantiall y as described.

6. In a sanding apparatus for railway-cars, the combination with a sand-hopper, hoppercontrolling valve, mechani sn for actuating the valve, and a flexible supply-tube leading downwardly from the hopper, of a stop on the valve-controlling mechanism, and a link-connection between the lower end of the tube and the car-frame for holding the tube in a fixed position against the stop, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of February, 1893.

E. F. DE WITT. lVitnesses:

GEO. A. MOSHER, FRANK C. CURTIS. 

